Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I think that’s amazing,” he said. “I think you’re amazing.”
I closed my eyes, trying to soak in his words, wanting to capture the feeling of warmth and comfort they gave me.
“I decided I don’t want Wanda’s job,” he said. “Too much admin.”
As he spoke, I opened my eyes. “I thought if you wanted to replace Wanda, you needed to—”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
He said it in such a relaxed way that I thought for a second I must have misunderstood him.
“But I thought that you wanted to—”
“I’ve not decided what I want to do. I’m going to take a while to reassess things. I wanted to replace Wanda so I could have my pick of positions at the hospital, but I think I need to enjoy what I’m doing at the moment. And that’s teaching other doctors and med students. I don’t want to jump too far forward.”
“Right,” I said. “Did you just decide this?”
“Over the last few weeks. Losing you made me look at my life and my career and question what I was aiming for.”
“Tell me you didn’t do this for me. I would hate you to give up something you love and have you resent me for it later.”
He frowned as if I’d disappointed him by asking the question. “Not directly. This is the right move for me, whatever happens between us.”
I tried to take in what he was saying. Wasn’t his ambition to head up the foundation program the reason why he couldn’t be with me? “So . . .”
“So . . . it seems there’s not much keeping us apart now.”
“There must be something,” I said. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?
He laughed. “You really don’t believe in happy endings, do you?”
I shrugged, unable to stop a smile spreading across my face.
He lifted my hand and threaded his fingers through mine.
“What about you wanting to make a name for yourself outside your mother and father’s legacy?”
“I still want to do that,” he said. “Or maybe I don’t. I’ve realized I can decide what my future is no matter my last name. Planning everything out and forcing myself to take jobs I don’t want isn’t the way forward. My parents are quite the force to be reckoned with, but I know that doesn’t matter as much to me as creating a future with you.”
I exhaled in relief at his words. I didn’t need to find a solution for Jacob and he didn’t need to find one for me. We’d both come to our own conclusions that had led us back to each other.
“You know, I might just start believing in happy endings after all,” I said.
He pulled me onto his lap. “Good. Do they include a proposal?”
I pulled back to get a better look at him. “A marriage proposal?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I want to marry you. The last few weeks have been miserable without you. I don’t want it to happen again.”
“Marry you?” I repeated, not quite believing what I was hearing.
“Yeah,” he let out a half laugh. “You sound like I’m asking you to run away to the circus.”
I laughed and wrapped my arms around him. Just being close to him felt as if all my pieces were back together again, like I hadn’t been fully me without him and now I was with him, everything was as it should be.
“I’d run away to the circus with you,” I answered. Marriage was a different question and . . . difficult.
Instead of getting upset and defensive, Jacob, as usual, set his ego aside. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking that I want to be with you but I’m not sure how to be your wife. What you’re used to with your parents’ marriage isn’t my experience. We grew up very differently and I’m not sure I can give you what they have.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I don’t want my parents’ marriage. I want marriage with you, whatever that looks like.”
My heart swooped in my chest. How did he know exactly the right thing to say? I placed my palm on his cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I probably should have said that before I proposed. I haven’t planned this out.”
“Either way works for me. I just like hearing it. I think you’re a special man and I want to be with you forever. But I come with battle scars.” His family was perfect and mine was broken. I wasn’t sure how to operate if I wasn’t pulling myself out of disaster. Could I be a good enough partner to this man who was everything?
“I love you for your scars, not in spite of them. It doesn’t matter where or who you came from—you’re a good person. There’s no reason to doubt yourself. There’s no reason to doubt us.”
I shook my head, incredulous that he was so easily able to see what I was thinking and extinguish all my uncertainty.